Docs · Operations

Updating and release channels

Nodeau never updates itself in the background, and a machine that cannot reach the internet keeps working exactly as it is.

What am I running?#

nodeau version
nodeau version --json

nodeau v0.X.Y-beta.N (commit 68fcaa1, built 2026-09-21, channel beta, go1.26.5, linux/amd64)

The version in that sample is a placeholder. The build this documentation describes is the current beta channel, read from the channel you would install from rather than typed into the page.

The commit is compiled in, so two builds of the same tree from different commits are different binaries. That is why the version string carries both.

Is there something newer?#

nodeau update
nodeau update --json

By default it only looks. It compares this machine's Nodeau with the published release channel, and — if a cluster is reachable — also shows what every machine in your fleet is running.

Updating#

The same command that installed it:

curl -fsSL https://get.nodeau.ai/install.sh | bash
nodeau install

• The bootstrap replaces the binaries in place, verifying the new archive's SHA-256 against the published manifest first.
• nodeau install is idempotent: it re-checks everything, skips what is done, and picks up anything the new release added — a new control-plane component, a new driver, a schema change.

What an upgrade preserves#

A replaced file is not a replaced process#

Replacing a binary does not replace a process that is already running: it keeps executing the file it started with, even after the name is gone.

The installer restarts a fleet connector whose binary it replaced, and nodeau doctor reports what was left behind:

The remedy is to restart the thing named. A package manager, a hand copy, or an install that could not reach the service manager all leave the same state, and the machine looks entirely healthy while in it.

Order, when several machines are involved#

Update one machine at a time and check it before moving on:

curl -fsSL https://get.nodeau.ai/install.sh | bash
nodeau install
nodeau doctor
nodeau update            # does this machine now agree with the others?

For a machine you are about to take offline for a while, drain it first — nodeau scheduling drain --node <machine> — so nothing new is placed there. Then undrain it afterwards. Draining is not eviction: what is already running keeps running.

Release channels#

A channel is a named pointer to a version. beta is what https://get.nodeau.ai/install.sh resolves by default.

NODEAU_CHANNEL=beta  bash install-nodeau.sh    # choose a channel
NODEAU_VERSION=v0.X.Y-beta.N bash install-nodeau.sh  # pin an exact version

A channel only ever moves forward. A version that was published and then withdrawn is never re-advertised.

You can record which build a fleet should be on, and see which build it is on. That is a statement of intent that you can read back — it does not upgrade anything. Nodeau does not upgrade a fleet remotely, and the capability to do so is not built.

Downgrading and rollback#

There is no nodeau downgrade, and rollback is not a supported operation.

Pinning an older version with NODEAU_VERSION fetches that version's artifacts if they are still published, which is not guaranteed for a superseded build. A control plane that has already applied a newer schema is not returned to an older one by installing an older binary.

If a release causes you a problem, the useful thing is a support bundle and a message — not a downgrade that leaves the machine in a state nothing has been tested against.

Machines that are offline#

An offline machine keeps working exactly as it is. It does not phone home, it does not degrade, and its entitlement keeps verifying offline until it expires — see expiry and grace.

To update one with no internet, carry the archive to it yourself and run the bootstrap with NODEAU_BASE_URL pointed at wherever you put it. The checksum check is the same either way.

A failed update#

The bootstrap installs nothing if the checksum does not match, and says so. If nodeau install stops partway through, run it again: it re-checks everything and resumes, and the ownership ledger means it never re-decides who owns a component.

If the machine is in a state you cannot explain:

nodeau doctor
nodeau support bundle

Documentation for the current published build, the beta channel. Something here wrong or missing? Tell us — a report from a machine we have never seen is the most useful thing we get.